Mountain West recap: Week 3

Week three has come and gone in the Mountain West and I don’t really know what to say about this week. Was it good? Maybe. Was it bad? Definitely a couple times. Did we learn some things about a couple teams? Yeah, I think so. You know what we learned for sure? Weber State LOVES giving up points that look like the number 70.

Air Force and Boise State locked up with each other on Friday night on the mothership. Boise State wore their obnoxious all-blue’s on the blue turf and there was not a single thing Craig Thompson could do to save my burning retinas. Air Force, on the other hand, well, they showed that they are capable of playing a football game for exactly two quarters before failing to come out of the locker room. AFA was going blow for blow with the Broncos in the first half, then apparently drank the Kool-Aid (it was actually Troy Calhoun’s bathtub filled with jungle juice) and never showed up for quarter three and four. It looked as though AFA had Boise’s number because there were an awful lot of Bronco defensive lineman laid to waste in the first half behind the “cut blocks” of AFA offensive lineman. Joe Mustache’s nearly perfect game the Broncos held on and got a 22 point victory over Air Force 42-20. Boise will head to Fresno next to take on Derek Carr’s Bulldogs, in what should be a terrific matchup. Air Force will be at home to take on Wyoming.

New Mexico and Pittsburgh locked horns in what, on paper, looked like the worst possible game to happen Saturday. Pittsburgh made sure to make me eat my words as they rolled up 49 points on New Mexico. This game was over by halftime as Pitt got out to a 35-6 lead in front of what looked like 7 or 8 people at Heinz Field, unless there was a premature Holloween celebration where people came dressed as yellow seats. Kasey Carrier, who was coming off of one of his best collegiate games, was held to just 22 yards on the ground. The Lobos had a hard time slowing down the Pitt offense as they rushed for nearly 300 yards while Tom Savage threw for 244 on just 13 completions. The Lobos will have a bye week coming up, an extra week to prepare for UNLV.. yeah, I said it.

In a game that was supposed to happen but never did, Fresno State was due to travel to Colorado, but due to the awful flooding in Boulder and Northern Colorado the game was postponed with no make-up date scheduled. There’s an open date in December, however, that would hinge on Fresno not being in the Mountain West championship. Good luck to those in Boulder, there’s some serious work ahead there.

Northern Colorado managed to find their way from Greeley to Laramie through some back roads and avoiding the closed roads going into Wyoming. The Cowboy offense struggled mightily in this one, and Brett Smith’s ankle was injured in the process, but the Pokes relied on a couple of defensive touchdowns to hammer the Bears 35-7. Even on a gimp ankle Smith still managed to rack up 264 yards and a touchdown. A pair of touchdowns from sophomore running back Shaun Wick and the Pokes had this one sealed up. They’ll head down I-25 to take on Air Force next week and hopefully the Howdy Doody jokes between now and then will not run their course.

Cal Poly had upset on their mind when they traveled to Fort Collins to take on the Rams. Colorado State really just wanted to win their first game of the season, so something obviously had to give. This game was much more of a blowout than I anticipated as Poly usually plays up pretty well, but the Rams totally surprised me with a solid performance from quarterback Garrett Grayson who threw for almost 300 yards and 2 touchdowns. Chris Nwoke awoke (see what I did there?) from his slumber and tacked on 133 yards of his own to lead the Rams to victory 34-17. Next week the Rams travel to …. Uh oh. Umm.. someone accidentally scheduled Colorado State to play Alabama, now a member of the AFC South (replacing Jacksonville). Good luck, Rams.. roll damn tide.

Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo picked possibly the worst week to get injured (probably not his fault). The Wolf Pack (two words) were pretty big ‘dogs in this game against Florida State as it was, but Fajardo tweeted out before the game that he would not be playing. I think the Pack’s chances at that point were probably taken off the board in Vegas. Backup Devin Combs got to take the controls of the offense and … they struggled. They hung with the Seminoles for a half, down 17-7 at the break but then Florida State remembered they were Florida State and scored 31 points the next quarter. Before we knew it FSU had 62 on the board and Nevada had 218 total yards, compared to FSUs 617. Freshman all-world QB Jameis Winston had a mild let-down after his debut, throwing for 214 yards and 2 TDs with a pick. Nevada gets to play Hawaii at home next week.. that will be helpful for their confidence.

Charles F. Keeton did not forget who he was because he lost his damn mind again, throwing for 249 yards and 5 TDs and rushed for another 25 in what can only be considered a victory over the Weber State faculty. Seriously, back to back weeks and Weber gives up 70 points. Utah State took their foot off the gas in the 3rd quarter, up by 70 with the 2nd and 3rd stringers in. I’ve heard Weber State has a VERY young defense, like mostly freshman and sophomores, and I realize they were playing something that doesn’t resemble a human being (Charles F. Keeton), but still. Weber’s only score on the day was a fumble return for a TD, but in true Weber State lolz, the extra point was blocked. Utah State will next head to Los Angeles to seal up Lane Kiffin’s firing as they bring the Charles F. Keeton roadshow to USC.

In the last game of the night UNLV and Central Michigan played the pillow fight of the week.. at least, that’s what I thought. Bobby Hauck finally suffered an internal combustion and sent Nick Sherry to the bench in favor of Caleb Herring (Sherry managed to throw an INT from the bench). Herring sparked the Rebel offense to explode for a 31 point outburst. I don’t think that’s ever happened in the history of UNLV football. They were down 21-7 at the half. Tim Cornett rushed for 94 yards and Caleb Herring threw for 266 yards and 3 TDs. The Rebels will play FCS Western Illinois next week, not sure what to expect from this but Hauck’s track record of defeating FCS teams is …

You get the drift. At any rate, this weekend should provide some entertainment for everyone, Boise and Fresno surely won’t disappoint. Will Boise’s defense pressure Carr into mistakes? Will Carr be giving out tickets to the air show to Boise’s secondary? Will Charles F Keeton singlehandedly send Lane Kiffin to the nearest In N Out to pick up a job application? Will Dave Christensen try to murder Troy Calhoun from across the field? Will Colorado State come back with a football team or will Nick Saban have eaten all of their souls? Lots of questions, hopefully they’re all answered. Seriously.. good luck, Rams.